RESADM-L members,

One thing I really like about grant administration in a small community
setting
is that applicant organizations keep coming up with scenarios for funding
strategies that keep me asking questions. Here's my latest quandry:

The organization for which I work, a non-profit health care organization,
participates in a collaborative partnership addressing adolescent health,
and we
have developed several grant proposals to seek funding on behalf of this
partnership. For all the proposals to date, the health care organization is
 the
fiscal agent and so therefore has received and administered all grant
funds.

The partnership has identified a funding opportunity for which the health
organization is an ineligible applicant (but can be a partner in the funded
project), and a proposal has been developed for submission by another
organization who is eligible. However, the eligible applicant organization
has
indicated that they do not have the cash flow to conduct a grant project on
 a
reimbursement basis, and they wonder if the health care organization can
incur
the "up front" costs and then be reimbursed by them from grant funds. They
have
suggested a written agreement to this effect (in essence, a subgrant? But
apparently with the purpose of being the flow-through organization for ALl
project costs.)

This seems cumbersome and administratively very awkward to me. May be not
even
allowable? For instance, if the funded project intends to hire a full-time
coordinator, just which organization would claim that person as an
employee?
What would be the incentive of the health care organization to take on such
 a
quagmire of grant administration, assuming that a funding agency would
allow it
in the first place?

Thoughts? Suggestions? Prayers for my sanity?
-------
Molly Daniel                           voice: 217-258-2195
Grants Specialist                      fax:   217-258-2288
Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center       email: xxxxxx@sblhs.org
1000 Health Center Drive               www.sarahbush.org
P.O. Box 372
Mattoon, IL  61938-0372